Dance to the Death
by Emerald Twin Blade
Summary: Halloween's come around and there are several things in 'The World' related to it! Haseo, Silabus, and Atoli go on a quest where nothing is what it seems... They can't leave the Area and Atoli's missing! HaSila and Slight HaseoxAtoli. -HIATUS-
1. Hesitation

**Dance to the Death**

_**.hack//G.U. Vol.3 REDEMPTION**_

**By Emerald Twin Blade**

Disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own .hack//G.U. or any of the settings or characters from said-game in this FanFic. The idea/plot for this fic, however, _does_.

Summary: Halloween has come around, and The World is celebrating. Costumes and Halloween-related items are available… as well as Quests! But what happens when Haseo's caught between the one his Heart yearns for and the one who reminds him so much of someone he knew long ago? What if "The Terror of Death" is sent on a mission where he may not return? What if something were to happen to Atoli? Or to Silabus? **Haseo x Silabus**, _Yaoi_, shounen-ai. Slight **Haseo x Atoli**.

* * *

**01**

_Hesitation_

**The World**** Board:**

**Thread Title**_This Is Halloween!_

AppleStar: It's here, it's here!! Looks like CC Corp finally gave in to all the Player's begging for Halloween stuff in The World! Isn't it awesome??

Nogmung: Well, of course! So many people were asking, it was almost inevitable!

… I will admit, it's really fun knocking monsters around with a sword that looks like a bat wing!

Tabby: Nooo waaaay! You mean you found that black bat wing with the red on the inside?? What was it called again…? Err…

Oh, well! Can you tell me where to find it, Nogmung? I think that sword would be a really great gift for my good friend!

Nogmung: It's called the Darkling Wing. Don't ask me why, because I have no clue.

As for where to find it, it's in **Σ **_Missing Dark Berserker_. You might want to be careful if you actually head there. The place usually has a few PKers hanging around.

AppleStar: I think I figured something out… All of the Halloween-based areas will have the 1st word '_Missing,_' or the 2nd word '_Dark_,' no matter what Server you're in! And so far, they come out to be Haunted Houses, spooky woods with dead trees everywhere, and caves where even the _bats_ are enemies!

THIS IS THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!! X3!

* * *

Ryou Misaki rubbed his chin in thought as he exited the Community Forum. So, CC Corp was doing Halloween in The World, huh? That sure sounded interesting… But the thing that interested him most at the moment, was the fact that Tabby was going after the _Darkling Wing_. Who could it be for? He thought about it for a moment. 

"Hmm… Endrance? Naa... He'd never accept it from her… Maybe Antares? Doubt it; he's way too old…" The only other Blade Brandiers he could think of were Kaede, Azure Balmung, Azure Orca, and Bordeaux, but it couldn't have been for one of them…

"Wait…" He stared at his computer screen for a moment, "Silabus?"

It _did_ make some sense… Silabus was probably _the_ friendliest person he knew, and he'd taken him along on an adventure or two when he brought Tabby along, too. Leaning back in his chair, he nodded to himself.

"Has to be for Silabus, then..." He found himself clenching his fists at the thought of Tabby getting such a cool-sounding weapon for Silabus... He growled silently under his breath, mumbling, "She _better_ ask me to go along with her when she goes to get it. If it's for Silabus, then I want to have something to do with it."

He blinked, noticing what he'd just said. A confused look came to his face; why did he care? Sure, Silabus was a good friend and all, but surely, nothing to get all worked up about.

Who would care if Tabby didn't ask Haseo to go do the Mission with her? Who would care if Tabby gave it to Silabus and made him so happy that he gave her a... a...

His cheeks reddened significantly in embarrassment; was he jealous? Did he like Silabus as more than just a friend? Ryou shook his head, trying to clear his mind before putting on his M2D and logging into The World.

* * *

**Δ **Eternal City Mac Anu

Blue rings slid downward, materializing the strangely black-clad Terror of Death. Haseo's crimson red eyes widened as he looked at himself, seeing that he was very much not in his Xth Form anymore.

"Haseo!" a voice called.

The Black Adept Rogue looked up, only to see Moon Tree's leader scurry up to him in a more inverted outfit than normal. Instead of his usual white outfit, he wore a full-black outfit with gold linings. His horns were changed from bright gold to dark gold, but he was still recognizable.

"Whoa! Zelkova, what's with the dark get-up?" he asked, putting his seemingly golden-clawed hands on his hips as he stared down at the little Flick Reaper.

"It's for the Halloween Event! And since I didn't want CC Corp to get suspicious with your character, I had to change you back to your 3rd Form… On the bright side, it's more suited for Halloween than your Xth Form, right? I'll fix it so that you have it back as soon as this big Halloween event ends."

Haseo nodded, looking around at the random PCs walking around inside Mac Anu's Dome, "It's sure getting attention… Everybody seems to have something that has something to do with the event."

The light blue-haired PC nodded, smiling, "I have to go meet up with Kaede, now. Enjoy the event while you can!"

Before any questions could be asked, Zelkova had been dematerialized by those blue rings. Haseo blinked, folding his arms as he thought for a moment.

"What did he mean… '_while you can?_'"

_**Shuuum!**_ Another PC was logging in, Haseo could tell. Looking around to see where it'd come from, he froze, noticing that the person was going to materialize directly in front of him.

Crimson red eyes stared into honey brown eyes. A bright blush coated both of their cheeks as Haseo jumped back abruptly, slipping on the Chaos Gate's stand and falling backward to the ground.

"Aack!"

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head in an attempt to make the pain go away. A pleasant laugh interrupted his silent cursing. Looking up, he found his best friend to be leaning forward and holding out a black-gloved hand.

"C'mon, Haseo! I didn't scare you _that_ much, did I? I only got a Halloween Change, not an actual costume!" Silabus said, his smile still as pure as ever.

The Adept Rogue cleared his throat before taking his friend's hand and pulling himself back up, only to find himself staring at him up and down. The Halloween Change was definitely something eye-catching on Silabus… His usual full-green outfit was changed so that his top was midnight black and his pants were a lighter shade. The belts were dark green, keeping his signature color still in the mix. His gloves were also midnight black with dark green cloth where the white glove-extension-things were, as well as his boots changing from brown to black.

The dark look on Silabus… just looked really, _really_ hot! Haseo mentally slapped himself; why was he thinking such things about a fellow Canard member? And _why_ was he acting so stupid and clumsy whenever thing got uncomfortable or awkward?

"Haseo?"

He looked back up to the Blade Brandier's face, only to be taken hostage of that charming smile of his, "Yeah?"

"Do you… think it's too much? When I went to customize it, I thought I'd keep the black to a minimum, but I wound up going pretty much all-out, didn't I?" His face was lightly reddened in embarrassment… or was it anxiety?

"Uh-uhm…" Haseo began, clearing his throat as he found himself looking for any words to reply with other than _hot_, _gorgeous_, _beautiful_, or _sexy_. He went over all of the words in his vocabulary in less than five seconds, "Y-you look awesome! I almost didn't recognize since I'm so used to your blindingly bright green… ness…"

Again, he slapped himself in his mind; what was he _thinking_!? He'd have to fix the problem before it started…

"… Okay, that came out wrong. I meant—"

Silabus just laughed again, shaking his head, "Don't worry about it, Haseo. I know I picked a pretty bright color for my character, but that was because I wanted to be unique, alright? Plus, it's my favorite color. X3"

_You're pretty unique in _my_ eyes, Silabus…_ He thought softly, but then snapped himself out of it by trying to start talking about something else.

"Hey… Do you… maybe want to go on a Quest with me? Or… something…"

"Oh, yeah! I heard about this Halloween Quest they're holding at the Breg Epona Quest Shop where you have to find some kind of weapon… Let's go check on that?" the brown-haired PC suggested, smiling curiously.

Again, Haseo found himself caught by that beautiful smile. Silabus was_truly _the Prince of Smiles, even if he _was_ wearing a Dark outfit. He nodded, inviting the Blade Brandier into his Party and sending them off to the** Σ** Server.

* * *

**Σ** Dual City Breg Epona

The rings rematerialized them at the main Chaos Gate of Breg Epona, leaving Haseo and Silabus to look around at all the changes CC Corp had incorporated into the **Σ** Server's Root Town design.

The Save and Item Shops were darkened significantly, and the NPCs inside now wore clothes comparable to an old-time Jail resident. Black-and-white long sleeves covered their arms, where as their dress tops were completely black, save for a white badge on their uniform that showed what shop they worked for.

"Wow, they even changed it here! They probably just haven't gotten to fixing Mac Anu yet…" Silabus pointed out, smiling at the dim sky above them, "I only wonder what the lower level looks like!"

The Adept Rogue couldn't help smiling at his best friend's excitement; Halloween _was_ a pretty cool time of the year, he had to admit. Taking a few steps forward, he pointed to the doors and motioned for the other to follow him with his head.

"Let's go check it out, then?"

Silabus nodded enthusiastically as he ran up to Haseo's side and followed in step with him to the elevator.

Once let out of said-elevator, they stopped and stared in awe at the sky above them. It hadn't looked like _this_ from above! The sky was almost completely dark, with lightning flashing in several different areas and setting the town alight. The clouds shown purple with every flash as virtual bats flew through the air.

"Whoa!" Silabus yelped, moving to his right side abruptly in order to dodge a bat that'd probably been aiming for his face. Upon doing so, however, he bumped his cheek into Haseo's shoulder, _barely_ dodging the black-and-red spikes.

The Terror of Death noticed the slightly pressure on his armor, looking down to see his friend not moving from the spot. Again, his cheeks grew warm.

"Silabus…?"

"H-Haseo…" the Blade Brandier began, looking up at the other slowly. Honey eyes were staring uncertainly into curious crimson ones, "How come… I can hear your heart beating so fast?"

_Now_, Haseo's face must've been very noticeably red upon hearing this. He backed away, running himself back into the support beam for the elevator as he looked down at the ground. In his mind, he searched for an excuse… some way he could explain it without letting on any major details.

"W-well, uhh… I…"

"Normally… I can't hear anyone's _real_ bodily functions, such as heart beats, or breathing. Through our Avatars here on the net… it's almost like we're dead." Silabus said quietly as he too looked down; looking back up, however, he met the other's eyes and_ held_ them there, "Why can I hear yours?"

Haseo calmed down a little; how could he explain this? That he and his PC on The World had become one thanks to a little run-in with Tri-Edge, who was actually not the _real_ Tri-Edge, who Data Drained him and gave him some weird power to summon an Avatar called a Phase Beast or an Epitaph? Yeah, _really_ believable…

_Wait… I told him about that Tri-Edge incident, so maybe…_ He thought, finally coming across something to say.

"You remember how… in the beginning, I'd been in a fight with Tri-Edge?" After receiving a nod, he continued, "That weird attack he used on me to send me all the way back to level 1… It also, somehow, made me become one with my character, in a way. I can still log out and be fine and all… but when I come into The World, I do actually _feel_ everything. Everything is real to me here."

That's as close as he thought he'd get to telling the truth but not the whole truth. The look on Silabus's face at least told him that he believed it. The other made a sympathetic smile at him.

"Really…? No wonder, then." Was all he said before walking up to the railing and looking out over the Root Town, "Look there! Isn't that Alkaid and Antares?"

Haseo grinned; the Blade Brandier sure was quick to change the subject. He probably didn't fully understand, but was ignoring for the sake of not pissing him off. The mention of the names _Alkaid_ and _Antares_, however, caught his attention.

"Damn it… What're _they_ doing here?" he mumbled, walking down the slanted, flat stairway toward the Quest Shop. Silabus was quick to follow after, "… and _Matsu_, too?!"

With how loud Haseo had said the ex-PKer's PC name, he'd caught the attention of all three. The spiky red-haired PC turned around, spotting him and smiling widely.

"Well, well! If it isn't little Haseo!" he called out in greeting, walking up and folding his arms, "What're _you_ guys doing here? Going to do a Quest, too?"

Silabus nodded, deciding to enter the conversation in the beginning, "We sure are! Which one did you take, Matsu?"

Matsu blinked when he looked to the darkly dressed Canard member, only to jump a bit when he realized who he was.

"Silabus?! That really you? Man, you look different! Nice going with the black and green look, though, it suits you!"

Looking at the other Adept Rogue up and down, Haseo asked, "So, you didn't alter your character for the holiday?"

Matsu shook his head, waving his hand in a way to say that it wasn't anything big to him, "Naa… I like my character the way it looks."

Alkaid, however, wore her same outfit with the same color scheme that Zelkova had chosen: completely black with gold linings. She walked up to Matsu's side and put her hands on her hips, looking to from Silabus to Haseo.

"Hope you're not here to take the **Missing Partner** Quest! 'Cause _we_ took that one, and we Icolo Members won't go down so easily if challenged, even by _you_!" she declared, a competitive smirk on her face.

"**Missing Partner**? What's that one about?" Silabus asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

Antares, in his usual outfit, stepped up and explained their chosen Quest, "A Party of three members had gone to **Σ** _Missing Dark Partner_ to train. And wouldn't you know, the Area Words came true when the Shadow Warlock in their group went missing."

"So, I take it that this was a Quest put in by a _real_ player?" Haseo questioned, scratching his cheek with his right index claw.

"Sure was… We're supposed to find their friend in a high level area, so I'm going to have to watch out for these pups in case they get in trouble. Especially around the NPC Boss!" the old man laughed heartily.

Matsu scoffed, picking up his hands and putting them behind his neck, "I don't think we'll have any reason for concern with the NPC… unless BFH Alkaid's temper flares!"

"_What_ did you say, you hypocritical berserker bastard?" Alkaid glared, trying to keep her voice calm, but it came out icier than a glacier.

"Exactly what I _said_, you BFH." He replied just as icily.

"Uhh… What's a BFH?" Silabus asked slowly and innocently, sweatdropping as he watched.

The ex-PKer smirked at the question, turning to face the ex-Emperor, who was glaring at him as she awaited an answer to the same question. He pulled up his hand and pointed his index finger at her, poking at her face with every word he spoke.

"**B**itch. **F**rom. **H**ell."

The anger cross atop her crimson hair grew larger and larger as she growled louder and louder, until it popped when she opened her mouth to let out a long string of cussing at him. Haseo, Silabus, and Antares backed up, watching from the sidelines as Matsu got the worst punishment ever…

---- **A Few Minutes Later**----

When Alkaid had finally lost enough steam, she fell to her knees and panted, having a hard time keeping her glare in place. Matsu, however, had his head tilted way to the side, his eyes as wide as possible and his virtual red hair now spiked out behind him instead of above him. He blinked twice finally, having not been able to blink from the intensity of her yelling.

_**Ping!**_ Haseo looked up, noticing that he'd just received a Short Mail from his poor friend.

_All that, just because I called her a bitch?_

He chuckled silently, before his ear twitched. Silabus was about to say something.

"… 'wouldn't want to get on _her_ bad side…" he mumbled, a nervous smile on his face.

"You can say that again…"

Alkaid got up to her feet, dusting off her black outfit before walking up to Matsu and taking him by the ear, pulling him back toward the elevator.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!! C'mon, Alkaid! Ow! Not the ear!!"

Antares let out another vigorous laugh, walking after the two of them, "Now _that_ is a pup with a short fuse!"

Haseo and Silabus watched them disappear before looking at each other, laughing nervously. It would definitely be a long time until they invited Alkaid along with them to do anything.

"How about we check to see if that Quest is still open?" The Adept Rogue asked, managing to change the subject again.

"Yeah… Let's do that."

Haseo approached the **Σ** Server Quest Shop, staring at the black-and-white clad NPC. Automatically, a list of all the available Quests opened up in a window where both Haseo and Silabus could see.

"Hmm… **Missing Friend** isn't even here anymore… **Missing Dog**? That sounds weird… Err…" Silabus mumbled, looking through the list.

"Hey, how about this one?" Haseo pointed to a Quest called **Shadow Weapons**.

"Let's check it out!" the other said, pressing his finger to it and watching the window change to the details of the Quest.

----

**Shadow Weapons**

Client: _Takako_

Reward: _Life Scroll_

Mission: Go through the Dungeon and find the Shadow Weapons known as _Shadow Claws_, _Dancing Shadows_, and _Shadow Wing_. Bring them back to the client.

Suggested Level: 150

Party Requirement: 3

----

"So… Silabus…" Haseo began, a smirk slowly curling on his lips, "Is, uh… _this_ the Quest you were looking for?"

The Blade Brandier nodded several times, "It sure is! Let's take it!"

The NPC stared blankly at them before looking around, "Quest Party Requirement is 3. You simply have 2. Find another Party Member and come back later."

Haseo glared at the Quest Shop NPC; he didn't want to take anybody else along with him but Silabus! And knowing Silabus, he'll probably pick between Gaspard and…

"Let's ask Atoli if she'll come with us!"

His eye twitched; he _knew_ it. Did he have to ask her to come along? Couldn't he have picked Shino, even? Atoli was a little bit angry with him for not wanting to go out with her… Sure, he was okay with her around and rather enjoyed her company now, but he just wanted to stay friends! She was like Shino was to him, now… like a _sister_.

Again, his eye twitched when he thought of the Harvest Cleric's reaction to the mention of him being gay. Now _that_ would make Alkaid's lecturing Matsu look pretty inviting.

The look on his face made Silabus blink in confusion, "Huh? Is… something wrong, Haseo?"

The Adept Rogue shook his head, hesitating as he went over his Member Address list. He really couldn't have picked somebody else…? Sighing in defeat, he spoke.

"Alright, I'll invite Atoli…"

* * *

**Emerald's News & Nonsense:**

Bwahaa! My Halloween fic! Sorry about **Warmth of the Oblivious**, but I think Haseo's a bit _too_ OOC... I'll probably try to rewrite it after the Halloween Bug has gone away. My ideas for this fic are WILD!

HALLOWEEN IS THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR FOR ME, PEOPLE! BWAHAA!

ahem Looking forward to seeing your comments on this chapter! X3!


	2. Nightmare

disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own .hack//G.U. or any of its characters. She hopes, however, to someday be one of the people who creates these types of games! BWA HAA!

Emerald's News & Nonsense:

A quick update! Yes, I noticed it, too! LOL! I'm usually awaiting loads of Reviews, but the only Reviews I've gotten so far made me smile so much! I just _had_ to post this next chapter right away! Although, a quick warning, People... I may have repeated a few things. My interest in this is growing!

TAAHAA!

**

* * *

****02**

_Breathless_

* * *

The Terror of Death tried his hardest not to pull away from the OK button to send Atoli an Invite into his Party. One more look out the corner of his eye at Silabus and his innocent face gave him enough distraction to wind up pressing the button anyway. 

**Sending Invitation...**

"_You want me to go Questing with you? Okay! I'll be right there!"_

He groaned mentally; from how happy she sounded in the Short Mail, he could tell that she was probably planning something... and it couldn't be something good. Haseo forced a smile before looking back to his best friend.

"She's coming."

"Great!" the other exclaimed, turning to look off toward the elevator so abruptly that his long monkey tail ponytail whipped to the side before slowly becoming motionless again.

_Damn it... How am I supposed to find out if I really like Silabus in that way if Atoli's around? Or even if he likes me as more than just his best friend...?_ The Terror of Death wondered restlessly; although, he highly doubted that last one.

Silabus seemed to act the same way toward everyone he met... save for the fact that he'd work as hard as he could if Haseo asked him to. But then again, Gaspard was just the same. The sound of the object of his obsession's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Whoa... Haseo, look; it's Atoli!"

Haseo blinked, raising an eyebrow in question. He followed Silabus's gaze, only to find that Atoli had definitely gone along with the Halloween Change. His jaw dropped as his eyes went wide in disbelief.

It seemed as if Atoli had gone all-out Change for Halloween, because her outfit looked quite different than it had before. The light green dress she always wore had been changed to midnight black, but now she wore a white, long-sleeved top beneath it. The sleeves that ended at her wrists were the same as they'd been before, but were black with golden lining. White gloves still held their gold rings at the bend of her fingers, and her wing-like cape remained white, as well. White stockings were switched out for midnight black ones and her linings and shoes were gold.

The most shocking thing was how similar her hat looked to Shino's. It was not dark purple, for it was midnight black, too. Gold lining took over where the light pink would have been, and the tassel was also in the same color gold.

"A-Atoli?" the Adept Rogue asked in surprise.

"Oh, Haseo! Silabus!" she called, walking quickly down the flat stairway to them with a bright smile on her face, "Thanks for inviting me! What Quest will we be..."

She trailed off when she noticed that Haseo was looking her up and down very, _very_ slowly. Silabus, who noticed this as well, seemed to jealously elbow the other male in an attempt to snap him back to attention.

All similes and metaphors aside; it _worked_. The Terror of Death coughed, looking directly into the girl's eyes with a blush of embarrassment. The Harvest Cleric did the same, her cheeks turning a light pink. She pulled her hands up to cup her cheeks in an attempt to hide her blush. Her eyes fell to the ground.

"A-ahm... D-do I really look so different?"

"Well, _yeah_! I mean, what a huge change from your usual bright pastels! Those brighter colors suited you more, but I've got to admit that you look pretty h—" Haseo was stopped once again by another thrust into his ribs by Silabus's elbow.

"Yeah, Atoli! You look _very_ pretty!" the Blade Brandier complimented with an innocent smile.

"Well, thank you, Silabus!" she exclaimed with her voice filled with happiness, "And thank you, too, Haseo!"

Silabus looked to Haseo out the corner of his eye, noticing how his eyes were glued to the girl before them. His honey brown eyes narrowed for a split second before he cleared his throat, easily gaining both their attention. His smile dripped with sincere sweetness, though he was concealing jealousy.

"So, Atoli! We called you here because we needed a third partner for the **Shadow Weapons** Quest. Interested?"

The Harvest Cleric nodded whole-heartedly, putting her hands together and entwining her fingers in front of her chest as she smiled brightly at the brown-haired boy, "Of course! It's been a while since the three of us went on a Quest together, right?"

"Yeah, it has. So, let's get it started." The Adept Rogue nodded solemnly, turning around to face the NPC and choosing the **Shadow Weapons** Quest.

"So, you will be taking the **Shadow Weapons** Quest? Please wait a moment..." the black-and-white clad Quest Shop NPC said, turning its back on the three of them before typing something on an imaginary keyboard. It then turned back around and spoke, "The client _PC Takako_ is coming."

Haseo raised a silver eyebrow before turning his head, only to see a white-and-green armored Twin Blade PC run up to them. The girl's long black ponytail whipped forward after she'd stopped abruptly, _barely_ missing Haseo's nose. It whipped back into place when she looked at each of the three before smirking.

"So, you're the ones who took my Quest? Fine..." Piercing emerald green eyes narrowed at Haseo, her smirk becoming devilish, "I am Takako the Emerald Twin Blade, and I can sneak glimpses into the future... These Halloween-style Weapons will be an awesome addition to my collection, but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment. I'll need you three to find the Twin Blades called **Shadow Claws**, the Scythe called **Shadow Reaper**, and the Blade called **Shadow Wing**."

The Adept Rogue folded his arms, a glare in his crimson hues, "Yeah, okay... We'll do it."

The pale complexion of the PC added to the creepiness of her smirk, "Are you sure you want to accept this? I see that many things about this particular area will bring you close together... and yet far apart. You will have trouble with communication... but will you still go?"

Silabus and Atoli both inched closer to Haseo, Atoli successfully concealing her frightened face behind her hands, but her eyes still watching. Silabus was a bit braver, having only gotten closer to their leader's side with a determined look on his face.

Haseo scoffed; a smirk of his own came to his face, "C'mon... Do you really think that you'll scare me? I'm the **Terror of Death**; it doesn't get any scarier than that."

"Suit yourself... I warn you, though, _Terror of Death_..." Takako began, turning around and beginning to walk away as she finished, "Your Heart will be frightened some time during this mission... but I bid you good luck."

"D-did you hear that, Haseo? _'Your Heart will be frightened.'_ What do you think she meant by that?" Silabus asked, a nervous look on his face.

"Pfft, she's just trying to freak us out. Not really working on me, though..." Haseo replied, unfolding his arms before looking back to the NPC inside the Quest Shop, "Cough up the Area Words."

"Very well. The Area Words are: **Σ **_Missing Dark Song Angel_."

He nodded, "Right. We'll head for **Σ **_Missing Dark Song Angel_. Let's go, Guys."

The other two in his Party nodded, as well, following after him as he led them back to the elevator and back to the 1st Floor. Upon landing, Atoli bowed to him quickly as she explained.

"I need a few more items from the Kiosk; I won't be long!"

Haseo and Silabus walked along with her until she branched out toward the Item Shop as they went straight up the steps to the Chaos Gate. As they awaited her return, Silabus looked to the leader.

"Haseo, you should really try to keep your radical thoughts to yourself! It's impolite to just randomly blurt out to someone that they're hot, especially if it's to a girl as polite and innocent as Atoli!" he scolded quietly, knowing full well that the girl he spoke of would come back at any second now.

The Adept Rogue chuckled, shaking his head, "Sorry about that… I guess I didn't really care about what I said to her. You know how I am when it comes to her. I don't really think about what I say, even if it hurts."

"Yeah… but you've been laying off the insults lately, haven't you, Haseo?"

"I guess… I just didn't notice."

Haseo snickered again, getting the other boy's attention. Silabus blinked curiously, staring at his friend.

"What's funny now?"

The silver-haired PC looked at him with slightly narrowed crimson red eyes, a slightly devious smirk on his face. This caused the Blade Brandier to blush lightly, until it darkened and became _very_ visible at the words that left the other's mouth.

"Although, I'll go ahead and say that your taste for the Halloween Change makes you look pretty hot, too… and _sexy_, if you'll allow me to say."

"Hey! I got everything I needed!" Atoli called as she ran back up to them.

"Really? Great, let's get going, then." Haseo said, smiling innocently.

"Huh?" the Harvest Cleric blinked, staring at their other friend, "Silabus? What's wrong? Your face is all red…"

The Prince of Smiles coughed aloud, making up an excuse easily before smiling weakly at the girl, "I-it's nothing… I think I might've choked on something."

"Aww! Well, drink a lot of water and keep her face tilted up! If you choked on your own spit or on some water, it tends to go down better if you do that." She suggested, smiling amusedly.

"Y-yeah… thanks." He mumbled before getting himself together and forcing that blush to subside.

When Haseo turned his back to Atoli, his smirk returned, and it was wider than before. Silabus saw it and had to fight off the blood that was trying to rush back to his cheeks.

The Adept Rogue clicked on the Bookmark window and then clicked on the Quest Area words, "Here we go!"

* * *

**Σ** Missing Dark Song Angel

The blue rings rematerialized them in an area that looked like a spooky bit of woods. There were dead trees all around them and a light fog was in the air. A dirt road path led onward, letting their minds wander and wonder what they had ahead of them.

Atoli crossed her arms over her chest and held her hands to her shoulders, "I-it's chilly… Haseo, why is it cold here?"

"How is it that we can feel this?" Silabus wondered aloud, picking up his hands and trying to touch the white haze around them, "It's so strange…"

Haseo's eyes narrowed; it wasn't surprising for Atoli and him to be able to feel things in the area, but what about Silabus? He turned around and looked to the Chaos Gate that led them there. His narrowed eyes went wide in shock.

"You guys! Look!"

The other two turned and also took a look at the familiar bright blue Chaos Gate, only to find that it was quite blackened. No bright glow emanated from it, but Haseo tried to access it, anyway.

… Nothing. It wasn't functional. Not even the Transport or his Storage could be reached.

"_Damn_… How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"H-Haseo…? Wh-wh-what kind of monsters are _those_?!" Atoli asked in an increasingly high-pitched voice.

Again, the Adept Rogue and Blade Brandier turned around, only to see exactly what the Harvest Cleric had been frightened of.

There were three huge spider-looking monsters coming their way. They each had overgrown abdomens in a horrible purple color with a smaller body and a huge head. The heads had six eyes that watched their prey hungrily, and two long pinchers that were dripping with poison.

"Oh my… H-how do we…?" Silabus stuttered, gulping as he took a step back, only to remember that they were trapped there.

"Isn't it obvious? We _fight_." Haseo spoke bravely, pulling out his twin blades and rushing forward in the activation of a skill, "_Ghost Falcon_!!"

He rammed his blades into one of the Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy monsters and did his best to send it up into the air with him. It came up about a foot and then went back down. He growled; no matter. He just went on with the skill as he did a back flip in the air and sent out several hits toward it before front flipping back down to smash through it again.

The Halloween-based monster's HP gauge had gone down by about a fourth; this wasn't good. How was he supposed to take down three of these things? He turned his head to look over his shoulder to his frightened comrades.

"C'mon, you guys! Help me out here!"

His command snapped them out of their shocked states, and his voice gave them enough courage to come forward and fight. Silabus's determined nature kicked back in as he shot forth to a Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy that was trying to advance on Haseo as he attacked the other one.

"_Devil Sword!_" the Blade Brandier called out, thrusting his blade at the monster once before doing a front flip into the air and sending several continuous rounds of slashes at it. He easily kept it immobile.

With the third and final Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy trapped behind the other two, Atoli found this as her chance to attack. She spun around in a full circle and held her staff up high as she shouted out a spell.

"_OrZan Rom!_" Three huge tornadoes suddenly formed around the one spider monster, but the other two just happened to get caught in them, as well. Haseo and Silabus looked at each other, smiling in agreement on a strategy to attack now.

"_Devil Sword!_" Silabus tried the same attack again, managing to get in some hits to not only his target, but Atoli's target, as well.

"_Armor Break!!_" Haseo yelled, hopping up into the air and **Weapon Changing** from twin blades to his Silad broadsword. He flew up to his targeted Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy and lashed the weapon down on it once… twice… and then a third time before bringing it straight down on it to cut it clear in half.

With Silabus and Haseo's skills ended, the spider monsters all let out ear-piercing screeches, forcing Atoli's continuous Wind Spell to stop, too. The three stepped into line with each other before dashing forward to the Party of three. They'd each chosen a PC and tackled their heads into them, trying to bite them with their pinchers.

Haseo knew that this was coming and had been charging up his weapon. With the monster in range, he released the button he'd been holding down and forced it back into the Battle Area wall. It instantly faded away.

Silabus, having his sword blade at the ready, easily blocked the attack and was able to dodge the poison it'd literally thrown at him. A quick _Razor's Edge_ skill was pulled off, and it too disappeared.

Atoli, however, was not so lucky. She pulled up her Flame Dancer staff and tried to block the Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy's attack, but the long pinchers went past the long magic item. She cried out as she was bitten, her character glowing bright purple in alert to say _'she's been poisoned!'_

"Atoli!!" Haseo shouted, glaring at the monster before jumping up into the air and flying up to it, "_Tiger Blitz!_"

This monster wasn't even worth the use of one of his better arts… The Adept Rogue effortlessly defeated it with his weakest Broadsword skill and watched as it joined the others. After all three were gone, he bent down in front of his friend, sensing Silabus come up behind him and follow his lead.

"Are you okay?" the green-clad PC asked worriedly.

The Harvest Cleric smiled embarrassedly at them before pulling herself back up to her feet. She, like the others, had put her weapon away once the monsters were gone. Putting her hands together, she held them to her heart for a moment as she tapped into the power of her spells.

"_Rip Duk!_" she exclaimed, casting the Poison Cure spell on herself.

The glow disappeared, but her HP was still missing a piece. Again, she called upon one of her spells… the healing spell _Repth_, which regained her missing HP by 100. She was left without 7 HP.

"Just hit by one attack… and it did that much damage to you?" Haseo asked, having been watching Atoli's Status bar, "These monsters… no… This whole entire _Area_ is nothing to be taken lightly…"

Silabus threw a worried glance back over his shoulder to the Chaos Gate before looking to the leader of their Party, "What're we supposed to do, Haseo? We can't get out of here, so…"

The Terror of Death made a serious look as he looked off down the foggy pathway, "We're going to have to go on through until we find a functional Chaos Gate. There is usually more than just one of them, especially on the different floors."

"I wonder how the different floors look if this is a forest… Don't you think that this is more of a field-type of area than a dungeon?" Atoli asked, her eyes darting in every direction as if she expected to see another monster come up for them.

"I guess you're right. If that's true, then, either we have to find the three symbol fragments to get to the main Beast Temple, or we have to find and defeat the NPC Boss, like Antares said." The Blade Brandier pointed out, folding his arms and letting his chin drop so he stared down at the ground.

"… I'll go ahead and say it's the NPC Boss kind." Haseo voiced his opinion, taking a step toward the pathway before turning around to face the other two, "We're here to collect the Shadow Weapons, right? There are usually three treasure chests or more in field areas, so if we find the chests, we'll get the weapons."

"Right! Let's go look for them, then, okay? And try not to worry so much about me, you guys! I was able to take care of myself when Cubia attacked, so things will be the same this time, too!" the Harvest Cleric exclaimed enthusiastically, which was a bit out of the ordinary in such a gloomy area as spooky woods.

Haseo and Silabus smiled slightly at her, nodding in agreement. They'd always been careful with her, but when Cubia tried to bring about the 3rd Network Crisis, they hadn't had the time to worry about her when they had to worry about all of The World. With all of that done, their habit must've come back into play… They'd have to tone it down, then; Atoli could handle it.

With that done, Haseo led the way down the foggy dirt road that led through the withered trees. Black leaves littered the ground beneath the trees, and the wind occasionally blew them onto the road. They crunched loudly to their ears in the silence as they stepped on them.

They hadn't walked for long, until they heard a thunderous howl echo through the woods. The three stopped at once, turning to look behind them. The first thing their eyes fell upon was some kind of floating full moon with a red-eyed face on it. Its eyes locked with Silabus's bright honey brown ones and let out an atrocious laughter. Silabus whimpered silently, taking a step back toward Haseo's side. The Adept Rogue noticed this, but looked on ahead and heard the sound of running feet… or _paws_.

Another howl broke out as a bright yellow-furred Werewolf appeared from behind one of the trees, pushing itself on two feet and glaring crimson red eyes at them all.

"H-Haseo…?" Atoli stammered, staring at the two strange monsters.

"A full moon and a Werewolf… How original." He chuckled, spinning around in a full circle until he released his Shadowy Death scythe, "If we take out the moon first, it should take some of the wolf's power away. Ready, Guys?"

Silabus pulled out his sword blade as Atoli brought out her staff, both nodding. The Werewolf monster, called a _Lycamoon_, crouched down slightly, red waves emanating from it as if it were charging up for a skill. Haseo charged up his scythe by holding it far behind him, getting ready for the monster to come after him. It roared as it shot toward him, but just as it did so, he released the charge and created a huge spinning attack that surrounded his entire Party. The Lycamoon was stopped in its tracks and was pushed backward, whimpering.

Again, the _Lunar Sun_ monster laughed manically, somehow giving the Lycamoon more strength so that it got up without a hassle. Haseo noticed this and looked to Silabus, quickly throwing out a command.

"Get that moon!!"

"Will do!" the Blade Brandier called before shooting himself off to the monster and successfully doing the _Disaster Sword_ skill by drawing his sword and slicing it at the same time, and then pulling it upward for another strike.

This attack, however, didn't seem to do anything to its HP bar, for its Outer Shell bar wasn't even down by a fourth. Silabus sent a nervous glance to their leader that just screamed _'help me_,_'_ so the Adept Rogue held onto the Lycamoon just long enough for Atoli to cast _Zan Rom_ on it and trap it in the small tornado.

Right away, he jumped up into the air and Weapon Changed from his scythe to his broadsword again, only to do _Armor Break_ on the Lunar Sun. This skill art easily broke down the monster's Shell bar, leaving its HP bar with just a little bit gone. He received a thankful smile from his best partner and smiled back, before he heard a cry behind him. He turned around, seeing Atoli about to lose her control over the spell she'd been holding out. The Lycamoon was beginning to regain movement.

However, bright purple and purple rings surrounded the Werewolf-like monster, and this excited The Terror of Death. He rushed for the wolf and Weapon Changed once more, but from his broadsword to his dual blades. The skill art _Ghost Falcon_ was activated; pulling off the **RENGEKI** added much critical power to the attack.

When he landed back on the ground, he looked back over his shoulder to his other partner and called out, "Hey, Silabus? Did you kill it yet?"

"A-aagh!" came the reply, meaning that Silabus had just gotten hit. Haseo's eyes darted for his Status bar, and sighed mentally in relief that his best friend hadn't taken as much damage as Atoli had earlier.

Having taken his eyes off of his opponent, he was barely able to make it out of the way on time. Back flipping out of the way, Haseo slid to a stop and swiftly pulled out a Healing Potion. He threw it up into the air and triggered it so that it healed Silabus's lost HP.

This time, he continued to fight against the Lycamoon, slashing at it several times and keeping it immobile so it couldn't attack him back. The shine of its yellow fur dimmed a bit, and it seemed to be taking more damage all of a sudden…

"Haseo, I did it!" Silabus said in triumph before coming behind the Lycamoon and helping the leader fight it off.

Haseo smirked, nodding in approval as he held down the charge for his dual swords and then released the attack by dashing behind the monster to where Silabus was and watched as many red slashes assaulted it in the air. It gave one last weak howl before disappearing.

Looking to the other, the Adept Rogue's smirk had not melted away, "You did great… but how come you just kept going? You might've gotten seriously injured…"

The Blade Brandier shook his head, smiling, "You told me to get rid of that Lunar Sun, and so I had to do it! Not to mention that even though I actually felt that one hit it managed to get on me, it didn't hurt for long, since I kept moving!"

Haseo was about to say something, but Atoli finally entered the conversation by quietly informing them of something they must have missed… or not noticed.

"You guys… was… that _there_ before?"

The two boys turned their heads in Atoli's direction, only to have their eyes widened by the fact that there was a haunted house a few yards away from them. The fog that was all around them was beginning to lighten, making the spooky-looking mansion seem all the more frightening.

Silabus gulped as he stared up at it, "… When did that get there?"

* * *

**Emerald's Extra Nonsense:**

Please excuse my knowledge of spiders. XD! I know nothing, and I'd like to keep it that way. I _am_ very scared of spiders. XP So, anyway, what'cha think? I'll say it again: I felt that I repeated a lot of things. Blaah... But tell me what _you_ thought! XP


	3. Missing

disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not, of course, own .hack//G.U.. Or any of the characters, settings, weapons, etc. that happen to pop up in this fic. The plot and a few monsters and certain weapons, however... she completely got off the top of her head! XD!

Emerald's New & Nonsense:

This one took a bit longer to write... It _is_ getting a bit repetitive, and _someone_ might say that this chapter's a filler... XP! But, it's completely going with the flow I had in mind.

UBER-JEALOUSY! THE WAR HAS BEGUN! XDDDDD!!

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**: 03 :**

_**Missing**_

"... When did that get there?" Silabus gulped, staring at the huge mansion.

Haseo folded his arms and narrowed crimson hues at the strange new addition to the setting. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second, but he had the funniest feeling that those last monsters were a distraction so this mansion could appear. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Atoli and Silabus. A mischievous smirk curled on his lips as the realization of an idea came to mind.

"... Let's go in."

"_What?!_" the Blade Brandier and Harvest Cleric exclaimed in unison, both gawking at him with disbelief. He wanted _them_ to go in _there_?

"C'mon! It's obviously part of the Area, and it's not like we have any other way to go but **back**." He suppressed his laughter, trying to keep himself as outwardly serious as possible.

The other two looked at each other with unsure looks on their faces, but a moment later, Silabus looked to their leader with a confident gleam in his eye.

"Alright, then... You're right, Haseo. There _isn't_ any other way, so let's go!"

Haseo's smirk turned into a smile at his brave best friend, a wave of warmth flowing over his heart, "Good. Now, how about Atoli...?"

The girl pouted, golden eyes staring at him glassily before a sigh of defeat escaped her, "Of course, I'll go... I'm in your Party, you're the leader, and there's no way to leave, anyway."

"Aww... You're seriously scared, aren't you, Atoli?" the Adept Rogue smirked again, speaking in a mocking tone.

Atoli looked at him in shock; he was making fun of her again? She thought he'd stopped that _long_ ago! Biting her lip, she pulled on a defiant mask and snapped back at him.

"No! I am _not_ scared! As a matter of fact, I've seen and heard of things far scarier than this!"

Haseo's smirk turned impish as he backed up a bit and motioned her to go along toward the doors, "Okay... If you're so brave, why don't _you_ lead the way inside?"

"A-ah! B-but, _you're_ the leader! Aren't _you_ supposed to be the valiant and bold hero who leads us into dangerous territories?" she insisted, her mask cracking as she frowned nervously.

"Yeah, but since I'm the leader... and you're in my party... that would make you my follower. And shouldn't a good follower do as the leader says?" he could tell that he'd made her uncomfortable and went on, "... Exactly. Now, why don't you go on ahead, Atoli?"

The Harvest Cleric stood straighter as she slowly walked forward, past him, and toward the Haunted Mansion. Haseo's arms folded once more as he followed around two yards behind her and winked at Silabus so that the Blade Brandier would do the same. The two males watched as the girl hesitantly pushed open the doors to the huge dungeon.

**Creeeek!** She took two steps backward, her heart beating faster as the tension grew. Suddenly, a golden-clawed hand clamped onto her shoulder and abruptly pushed her forward. She let out a scream as she landed on her knees on the threshold, her yell of fear echoing through the Area.

Haseo finally let out the hysterical laughter he'd been trying to hold in all this time, slapping his right hand over his face, "That was definitely worth the wait! Ahahahah!!"

Atoli shoved herself up to her feet and turned around to face the two others in the Party, an embarrassed flush on her face as she stared at their leader, "H-Haseoo!! How could you be so—SILABUS!!"

The Blade Brandier had turned his face to the side and tried to conceal his chuckling, his hand brought up as if to shield his mouth. His honey eyes looked over at her, but he couldn't stop his chuckling.

"S-sorry, Atoli, but... that _was_ kind of funny... Tch heh..."

She pouted, her eyes tearing up visibly, "How could you guys be so me-ean!!"

Once the Terror of Death had managed to minimize his uproarious laughter, he folded his arms again and looked at her with that same impish smirk as before, "Because... Atoli, I'm sorry to say this... but you're just so _scare-able_."

"... _Scare-able_?" she was getting angry now, "That's not even a _word_!"

"But it's true." He pointed out.

Atoli wished she could just run away, but they were, of course, trapped in this Area until the NPC Boss could be defeated. She let out a sigh of frustration, noticing that Silabus was still chuckling. Her gold eyes narrowed at him before she turned her back on them with a _"Hmph!"_

"I'm not going to lead anymore!" she declared simply.

"I thought you'd say that..." Haseo admitted, stepping forward and telling them to follow him with a wave of his hand, "Let's go. Those weapons and the Boss are probably hiding in here somewhere."

Silabus and Atoli said nothing as they followed behind their leader, all three entering the Haunted Mansion. As soon as they were about three yards inside of it, the doors they'd come in through slammed shut. The Harvest Cleric jumped, immediately latching onto Haseo's arm. He rolled his eyes as he pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"C'mon... This is just a game, remember? None of this is real, even if it feels like it is. So, just... calm down!"

"M-m-me? I'm not scared! I was just... giving you something to hold onto! Yeah, that's it! Remember what the client said? '_Your Heart will be frightened_.'" She reminded, standing up straight and putting her hands behind her back as she stood beside him.

"Tch... and like I said, _nothing_ scares me! Calm the hell down and let's just get this Quest over with."

With that said, the Adept Rogue walked onward, with Atoli following reluctantly behind. Silabus, who was in step with the girl, had on a pleasant smile. The Harvest Cleric watched this out the corner of her eye and narrowed them again at him, deciding to send him a private Short Mail.

_Why're you always smiling, Silabus?_

_What makes you smile like that?_

When the Blade Brandier read this, he raised an eyebrow, looking to her out the corner of his own eye. He was able to catch a glimpse of her almost-glare before she switched it to a curious look. He closed his honey brown eyes and his smile widened slightly.

_I'm always smiling because __The World__ is a fun game!_

_No matter how you look at it,_

_Even when it's scary..._

_It's still fun!_

She made a suspicious look at him before sending him another Short Mail.

_... Or is it because of a certain ex-PKK?_

Silabus was surprised that she'd seen right through him, but before his anxiety could show up on his face, he merely raised his eyebrow a bit higher as if questioning what she meant. He couldn't, however, suppress the blood rushing faintly to his cheeks. It was very much invisible, but the other caught him.

"Ah-HAH! So, you _do_ l—" She began at a yell, but Silabus immediately went up to her and covered her mouth with his black-gloved hand.

Noticing that they'd stopped, Haseo turned around to face them, only to see them in such a strange position, "What the hell're you two doing?"

"Mmm-mm-mmph!" Atoli tried to answer, obviously all riled up.

Silabus held strong to her, though, and just laughed nervously at their leader, "I-it's nothing!"

The Terror of Death narrowed his crimson eyes at them, "You weren't talking about me behind my back, were you?"

"No! Of course not! Why would we do that?" the Blade Brandier laughed again, shooting Atoli a look that she'd never seen on him before. This expression was accompanied by a Short Mail.

_If you tell him, I promise I'll make your life __**hell**_

Atoli gulped, instantly calming down at the threat. Silabus let her go and looked back to Haseo with an smile of embarrassment.

"See? Everything's fine!"

Haseo looked to the Harvest Cleric, piercing red hues almost commanding her to tell him the truth. The girl kept being reminded of that threat Silabus had sent to her... Silabus wasn't like that! Maybe she _should_ tell Haseo...

It was almost as if Silabus could read minds, because he glared at her out the corner of his eye. She could almost _hear_ his blade unsheathing. Again, she gulped before laughing nervously and shaking her head at the Adept Rogue.

"Yeah! It's nothing at all! I was actually... err... going to scream again..." she said in a convincingly ashamed voice, "but Silabus stopped me before I could let it out."

Haseo merely smirked, shaking his head in amusement, "It's like I said, Atoli... Nothing here is for real, so get over it! There's nothing to be afraid of!" He looked to Silabus and smiled, "Thanks for shutting her up before she screamed, Silabus. I was getting a headache from those last ones she let loose."

"Yeah..." was all the other could say before Haseo led them through to the next room.

_I hope you know that this means war..._

Silabus looked over to Atoli, seeing her pout in annoyance. He nodded, mumbling an '_I know_' quietly so that their leader couldn't hear.

The silver-haired PC continued walking down the corridor, his black armor nearly blending in with the darkness of the hallway. His bright-colored hair and the red stains upon his armor helped the others see where he was. Soon, they entered a large room with cobwebs and broken furniture everywhere.

"What the...?"

He scanned the room, until he heard a creaking coming from beneath the floor boards. His eyes went wide at the realization, turning his head, he shouted, "Get back!!"

He pushed Silabus and Atoli back as he himself got out of the way _just_ before the old wooden floor was broken through. Two loud hissing sounds were heard until the smoke and dust cleared away; two over-sized black cats had jumped through the hole in the floor and were staring at them with huge green eyes.

"H-Haseo...? I don't remember cats being that big..." Atoli pointed out.

"And I don't remember them having spikes coming out of their backs!" Silabus rolled his eyes, obviously still a little bit out of character.

It was true, though; these _Black Lucks_ had black spikes coming out of their backs and along their tails. Their claws were enormous and their long fangs hung out of their mouths.

"Alright, you guys! Let's go!!" Haseo commanded, rushing forward into one of the black cats and Weapon Changing to his long, white scythe, "_Heavenly Wheel_!!"

He easily sliced the Black Luck upward into the air and slashed at it from the right to the left side, and then changing from the left to the right side as he spun into a full circle. In doing so, he managed to land a hit or two on the other Black Luck, which hadn't moved from its spot beside his target.

Silabus ran up to that second Black Luck and began thrusting and stabbing at it, doing his best just to land attacks on it. Even though this monster was extremely huge compared to its real life counterpart, it was pretty speedy.

It meowed loudly before jumping back and swiping its spiked tail at him. His honey brown eyes went wide; _that_ wasn't expected! He let out a gasp as he flew backward a bit, landing on his back on the wooden floor.

"A-aagh..." he groaned, trying to push himself back up from his elbows.

"Silabus!!" Haseo called out, noticing that his friend was hit.

He looked to his best friend's HP bar and noticed in surprise that it was flashing red with the number 113 above it. He mumbled a curse before looking over to Atoli, who was avoiding a hit from his own targeted monster.

"Atoli!! Why haven't you Healed Silabus yet?!" he shouted, activating his _Lotus Flower_ skill in order to push Silabus's target farther away. It'd been trying to advance on him in his moment of weakness.

"I'm a little busy here!!—Aaah!!" she screamed, seeming to purposely move her staff away from the front of her and allowing herself to get hit; a chunk of her own HP went down.

"Idiot..." he grumbled, whipping out one of his few Healing Tonics and using it on the Blade Brandier, "Be more careful!"

The brunette nodded as he got back to his feet, smiling at his fully restored HP, "Right!" He shot past the leader and cut at his original target several times, "_Razor's Edge_!"

The Harvest Cleric pouted, watching as Haseo went back to fighting and Silabus did the same. How could he remember to Heal the other person in their Party but not _her_? How cruel!! All she did was pick up her Lost Weapon and Heal herself using _'Pha Repth.'_

The battle was over in a matter of minutes, and the three of them had leveled up significantly. Although, no one was happy at this point. Haseo faced Atoli with a serious look.

"What was that about?! How come you weren't Healing anybody?!"

She winced at his anger toward her, trying to hold back tears, "I... I was being attacked; I couldn't... do anything..."

"The majority of the battle, you were just running around and trying to avoid getting close to our battling! You only Healed once, and it was on yourself!"

"I'm sorry, okay!?" she exclaimed, feeling very much ashamed of herself. She turned and looked to Silabus out the corner of her eye, still trying to keep her vision from blurring.

_This is all __**his**__ fault!_ Atoli shouted in her head, shutting her eyes as she lowered her head.

_Oh, shit; is she going to cry?_ Haseo asked himself, sighing and putting his hand over half of his face, "No, Atoli... _I_ should be the one who's sorry. I'm always too hard on you and... Aagh, forget it... Just don't cry, alright?"

She looked at him with a light blush coming across her face; he was apologizing... for how he acted toward her? She sniffled slightly and nodded, smiling weakly at him.

"... okay."

Silabus's eye twitched at the sight; _score one for the Healer Chick_. It was pretty much even now, wasn't it? He took a deep breath, thinking.

_In with the good... and out with the bad..._

**Ping!** He blinked, watching a Short Mail open itself on his screen. He glared at it automatically as he read it:

_I win this round! _;P

The Blade Brandier was beginning to get very, _very_ irritated by the conflict between himself and the girl. He looked to their leader, snapping out of his own thoughts upon hearing his voice.

"Let's keep moving... Staying here in one spot isn't going to get us any closer to the weapons or the NPC Boss."

They both nodded, following after him and walking around the huge hole in the ground. They went across the room to the only other walkway and found themselves going through another dim corridor with extra squeaky floor boards. Every step they took in the darkness and silence caused Atoli to get more and more frightened. Silabus, of course, noticed this.

_What's wrong, Atoli?_

_Getting scared?_

She glared at him.

_No! What gave you that idea?_

The brunette merely pointed to her legs. The blonde looked down and noticed that she'd been having trouble keeping her legs steady; her arms and hands were trembling, as well. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

It was then that she gasped silently, her ears twitching. She could hear something... voices. They were echoing and calling out to her. Her heart beat quickened as she raised her hands to her chest and tried to calm it down.

The voices wouldn't allow it, though.

"Y-you guys... I can hear... voices... Th-they're all around us..." her voice was meek and quiet, but her pitch was growing higher and higher with every word.

"What're you talking about?" Haseo asked, blinking in curiosity over his shoulder.

Suddenly, the voices became louder, nearly shouting out the girl's name. She stopped and fell to her knees, crying out.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

Haseo, and even _Silabus_, both stopped and stared at her in worry, "Atoli??"

**Screeee!** A red glow appeared in the distance behind them. The Adept Rogue watched it with squinted eyes until it was close enough to view.

"What the hell's that!?"

An overgrown, flaming bat was flying their way, screeching deafeningly. When it was within fighting range, its shriek became too much for them. They covered their ears and tried to back away from it, but its feet grabbed onto the Harvest Cleric and flew off with her.

The Terror of Death watched after in surprise, "ATOLI!!!"

"Hold on!!" Silabus called, activating the only spell he knew, "_Rue Kruz_!"

Somewhere in the distance, the screech echoed back toward them, letting them know that it'd hit its mark. Haseo smiled at the Blade Brandier.

"Great job! Let's go!"

They ran on ahead, reaching the next room after a minute or two. The two looked from left to right, trying to spot their partner.

"Where's...?"

Another scream was audible, but it didn't belong to a monster. It was Atoli's familiarly annoying scream. Immediately, they began to dash for the other side of the room so they could try to find her, but again, monsters appeared.

Two _Vak Bats_ and a Vampiric monster called _Blood Thirst_ came in their way. Haseo and Silabus jumped back, brandishing their weapons with a flash of light.

"Damn it... What's going on with this place?"


	4. Awareness

disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own .hack//G.U. or any of the characters, settings, items, etc. that pop up in this Halloween Fic. Although, several weapons and keywords were made up specially for this fic. X3

Emerald's News & Nonsense:

Alrighty! It took me a while to write this one, sorry! It took me forever to think about "Hm... where should I end it?" This chapter is about a page shorter than Chapter 3. Ahaahaahaa!! Anyway. cough

I'm working on Chapter 05, so it should be done soon. X3! Be ready, Peoples!

* * *

**: 04 :**

_**Awareness**_

The Terror of Death was growling menacingly at the strange new breed of monsters; how many Halloween-based monsters did CC Corp _make_?! His crimson eyes suddenly grew small as he rushed for one of the Vak Bats, easily catching it off guard.

"_REAPER'S DANCE!!_" he roared, slamming his Shadowy Death scythe into it, and managing to hit the other Vak Bat at the same time with each hit, before bringing the blade of the weapon down into the ground and summoning large demonic claws from the ground.

Even the Blood Thirst monster was in range for _that_ attack, but it took little or no damage. The Vak Bats, however, were both down for the count. He turned his scythe on the remaining monster, his face still holding a sort of anger that one would only feel if something very, very close to their heart had been broken or stolen.

"OUT OF THE WAY!!" Haseo commanded, shooting himself at the seemingly frightened monster.

"Haseo, stop!!"

Silabus suddenly came up between the Adept Rogue and the Vampire monster, his arms outstretched to either of his sides. Haseo, who was already too riled up to stop himself from the attack, shoved the Blade Brandier out of the way and hacked his weapon into the Blood Thirst over and over again.

"Haseo! Haseo!! It's dead already; stop!!"

He finally came to a halt at the sound of the other's words. He hadn't noticed... that the monster was defeated? The Blood Thirst's form had darkened _long_ ago, but with how swiftly he'd been attacking it continuously... it couldn't find the chance to disappear completely.

Haseo threw down his weapon, allowing it to fade away. His legs gave out and landed him on his knees as he stared at where the monster had been.

"H-Haseo...?" Silabus began, still quite shaken up at how frightening his best friend had become at the loss of their Harvest Cleric.

"She's gone... Silabus, she's _gone_! How could I let this happen??"

The brunette bent down to his friend's side and put his hand to his spiked shoulder, "These things happen... As a matter of fact, this is starting to sound a lot like that Quest that Matsu and the others took..."

Haseo looked to the other, "Where that Shadow Warlock went missing? Heh, I guess it's _sorta_ similar..."

Silabus smiled, noticing that he'd managed to calm the Adept Rogue down a little bit, "C'mon, if we keep going on through the dungeon, we're sure to find her! And if anything hurts her, she's still in our Party, right? We can tell! And we can use a Healing item or something on her, no matter how far away she is."

The silver-haired PC managed to smile back, nodding, "Yeah..." Getting up to his feet, he pulled Silabus up with him and held his fist out to him, "We'll turn the whole dungeon upside-down!"

The Blade Brandier laughed, knocking his knuckles lightly into the leader's before replying, "You bet! Now, let's get a move on before whoever took her gets too far away!"

"Right!"

With their minds made up, the two remaining of the Quest Party ran on through the awaiting, dimly-lit corridor.

* * *

The blonde-haired Harvest Cleric let out a scream as she was dropped onto the old wooden floor. Opening her bright yellow eyes, she looked all around her in a panic; where exactly _was_ she? 

This room... It looked just as ruined as the others had, but there were fallen debris and a strangely dark corner on the opposite side of the room from her. This particular area of the dungeon seemed about the size of the room that Vak Bat had been destroyed in.

When it'd dropped her thanks to the only Spell she knew Silabus knew (_Darn it, he saved me! Now, I owe him one!!_ She thought, wanting to cry.), she'd tried to run away. Another Vak Bat, which seemed to have been waiting for the other to die, just grabbed her and took her much farther into the dungeon than she'd thought was possible on only the first floor.

Now, here she was, looking around and wondering where she was.

"Aww... What's wrong, my little flower? Are you, perhaps... frightened?" a strangely soft voice echoed.

Atoli looked all around her again, trying to find the source of the voice. Her eyes and ears led her to that darkened corner once more. She gulped, scooting her butt backward by pushing the floor with her heels.

"A-ahm... M-m-m... maybe..."

"C'mon... you can be honest... Shino..." it echoed again; two bright red eyes had suddenly become visible, glowing in the darkness.

"Wh-what? Shino...?" Atoli stuttered, looking down at her outfit and realizing that she'd made her outfit _scarily_ similar to her literal-The World clone, "B-but... I'm not..."

"Don't try fooling me... It won't work, as it had before..." the feminine voice warned, those eyes narrowing into a glare before growing wider, "The Terror of Death will come, in hopes of saving you... but it won't happen... I'll _break_ him before he can do anything."

"No!!" she shouted, getting to her feet easily and fearlessly glaring at the monster/person hiding in the corner, "I'm not Shino and there's no way that you'll win! Haseo will come and save me successfully! I _know_ it!"

The eyes narrowed again, but this time, in amusement, "You've lost your sense of fear, I see... Allow me to give it back."

Blue rings appeared to either side of the Harvest Cleric, rolling upward and materializing two mummy-looking monsters. The two _Underwrapped_ groaned, but it sounded very much muffled from the outside of the layers of bandages. Stiffly lifting their arms up, they hobbled toward the girl.

Atoli let out another scream, turning around to run away. The doorway that had been previously behind her faded away, leaving her nothing but a wall to run into.

"Oww!" she whined, putting her hands over her nose and trying to make the pain go away. Slowly turning back around, she found that the monsters were already upon her. With golden eyes wide with fright, her scream pierced the ears of all beings within a seven-room range.

* * *

"Hey, Haseo! Hold on!" Silabus demanded, having come to a halt himself. 

"Huh? What's wrong?" the Adept Rogue asked, stopping and looking to his friend.

The Blade Brandier put a finger to his lip in a motion to _'hush!'_ before moving his hand to cup his ear. That probably wasn't a very good idea, because with the two boys standing in the silence of a huge room, they wound up hearing whatever Silabus had sensed at one of the loudest volumes known to man.

Their eyes shut tightly as they clamped their hands over their ears.

"WTF!" Haseo shouted, closing one eye and looking across the room to his right. He could almost _see_ the sound waves coming out from that hallway, "This way!!"

The two had began at a run in the direction of which the ear-splitting shriek was coming from, but they had to slow down because the sound was beginning to, somehow, cause them damage. They looked at each other with confused looks on their faces, Haseo finding another way of communicating... through Short Mail.

_If it's Atoli screaming,_

_How come we're getting damage??_

Silabus wasn't all that quick to reply, but as soon as he could get a grip on his keyboard in real life, he did so as fast as he could with the sound ringing in his covered-up ears.

_I have no idea!_

_But... wait, have you tried Short Mailing her?_

Haseo blinked at the realization, taking his hand away from his ear and slapping his forehead, only to put it back over his ear and nod in his friend's direction.

_Why didn't I think of that?_

_I'll try right now!_

He pulled up a quick Short Mail window that was to be sent to Atoli, and typed in: _Atoli, where are you? We can hear you, but if we get any closer, we're going to lose loads of HP points!_

Upon sending it, he received a reply almost immediately, but he couldn't read it. He raised a curious eyebrow when the scream had finally come to an end, looking to Silabus.

"I contacted her... but I can't understand anything it says."

The Blade Brandier tilted his head to the side, "Huh? Let me see..."

Haseo FWD'd the Short Mail to Silabus, showing his friend exactly what it said.

_D)N;& C),3 4f&3R ,3!!_

_574Y 4w$Y!!_

"Hold on... I think I can decipher a bit of what it says..." the brunette said, staring at the Short Mail with squinted eyes, "Uhm... I can only tell what the last line says..."

"Well, what does it say?" the Adept Rogue insisted, also looking at the same message.

"It says _'Stay Away_._'_ The 5 kinda looks like an S, and the 7 sorta looks like a T, right? 4 could be an A... and when you hold down the Shift button when you press 4, it comes out a $."

Haseo gaped at the other, "I didn't know you could read Hacker Code."

"It's Hacker Code? ... Well, I guess that makes sense, since in Netslum Tartarga, all the Hackers hang out there and everything's spelt like that..." All he did was shrug.

"Well, try using how you found that last line to come up with the rest of it. Because, c'mon... Why would Atoli tell us to stay away?"

Silabus went on, gazing at the strangely coded message before opening his mouth to say what he thought it meant, "_'Don't_... _Come_... _After_... _Me_._'_ Huh... Well, that's a little weird. It says _'Don't come after me!! Stay away!!'_"

"What the... If she says it like that, then of course we have to go find her! It's obvious that something bad is happening to her!"

The Blade Brandier folded his arms, "But... what if it's some kind of trap? Like... she's just being used as bait, y'know? What if whatever's got Atoli is actually after _you_?"

Crimson eyes went wide at the other, "What?"

"Well... you _have_ made a few enemies along the way, Haseo... especially as The Terror of Death. It wouldn't be very surprising if somebody was trying to get their revenge on you."

Haseo sighed, grumbling, "I guess you're right... but what're we supposed to do, then?"

Silabus picked up his hand and pointed his index finger upward as if he were going to say something intelligent, "We can keep going and all, but be extra careful! You never know what whoever's trying to lure you has up their sleeve."

"Fine; let's keep going now. What if they get farther and farther away? Or even leave the Area?"

"Haseo, if _we're_ trapped in this Area, don't you think they are, too?"

Haseo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but what if they're the ones making it so we can't leave?"

"... Good point."

Before anything else could be said, the two started heading in the direction of which Atoli's scream had been splitting the air. The narrow hallways were getting a bit repetitive, but what dungeon or field didn't have the same thing pop up over and over again?

They turned to their right side and went down another corridor, stopping at the mouth of another huge room. Haseo looked left and right before stepping out into the open cautiously. Silabus followed suit, but just when they thought they were in the clear and able to go through without battling anything, three monsters were gated into the room.

"What the..."

"D-did they just _warp_ here??" Silabus asked, staring in skepticism.

"Calm down!" Haseo shouted, knowing that if he didn't say anything, his only other partner would get call worked up and probably wind up getting KOed or something, "Stay focused! We have to take these things down before we go any further!"

"R-right!"

The two Party members looked to the three monsters tat had just appeared for the sole purpose of slowing them down, studying them. Two had come out to be Not-So-Itsy-Bitsys, but that last one was a bit new to them. It looked like a 6-foot tall Egyptian mummy.

"Bring it on!" Haseo yelled at the monsters, dashing for a Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy and smashing into it with his scythe.

Silabus looked to the mummy monster, apparently called an _Underwrapped_, and saw as it took the tiniest of steps toward them. He couldn't help chuckling, but then he saw the other Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy begin to charge up for an attack on his leader. Unsheathing his sword, he ran up to it and started attacking it.

Its charge hadn't subsided, but it _was_ getting annoyed with him. When he'd thrust his blade forward into it again, the monster lowered its pinchers and bit the weapon. The blade snapped in half like a twig and clanged when one of the pieces hit the ground.

The Blade Brandier held up his broken weapon and looked at it in nervousness, "Not good..."

The Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy let out a low, scratchy laughter as it turned its charge attack on him, almost ready to ram itself into him with enough force that would most definitely KO him.

He took a step back, trying to come up with an idea. Why had he just brought that level 101 sword with him when he was at level 149? Couldn't he have brought another weapon with him?

Haseo, having pushed his target backward, looked over to see how Silabus was doing. When he saw the broken blade on the floor, he cursed to himself. He knew he should've given his friend the gift before they came to the Quest Area! Charging up his scythe, he let loose the huge circular ring that engulfed half the Battle Area.

"Silabus!!" he called, getting the other boy's attention before pulling out a level 145 blade from his inventory and tossing it to him.

Silabus looked to the weapon spinning in midair, jumping up and easily catching it by its hilt before activating his Devil Sword skill and managing to stop the Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy from attacking him. The many hits he got on it, he noticed, took out a lot more HP than his old sword did. Not to mention that a few of his hits came out to be critical hits.

_Whoa... What kind of blade is this?_ He asked himself, but continued to attack the monster until it groaned and sunk to the ground, disappearing.

He turned to look toward his best friend, "Haseo! Where'd you get this blade?"

"I'd been meaning to give it to you, but... the perfect time hadn't come up until now." Haseo replied, spinning around and pushing his target back again, "It's called the Wrath Tsuki, and it took me forever to find it... Sorry it took so long to replace that Blade Frost of yours."

"It's okay..." the Blade Brandier said in a shy voice, but it was then that his eyes wandered over to the Underwrapped. It was still trying to reach Haseo, but it had suddenly come to a stop. He raised a light brown eyebrow at it as it stiffly picked up its arm and pointed it at his leader. The bandages wrapped around its arm shot forward toward the Adept Rogue.

Silabus again looked to his leader and ran in his direction, "Haseo!! Watch out!"

With a final slash through the monster with his scythe, Haseo watches the spider disappear before turning to see the bandages lashing out at him like metal to a magnet. His crimson eyes go wide for a moment before he shuts them tightly, but it then let out a grunt as he was tackled out of the way by his partner.

With eyes reopening, he gasped as he watched the rope-like attack wrap itself around Silabus's neck and then pull him closer to the monster and hold him up high in the air.

"SILABUS!!"

* * *

Emerald's Extra Notes: 

CLIFFHANGER!! OMFG, I just had to do it. It just SCREAMED to stop there. XP

See you in the next chapter! (:


	5. Petrified

disclaimer: ETB does not own .hack/G.U. or any of the characters, items, weapons, etc. used in this fanfic. She does, however, own "The Emerald Twin Blade" and the so-called "NPC Boss."

Emerald's Notes & Nonsense:

AHAHAHAH!! YOU ALL THOUGHT I WAS DEAD, DIDN'T YOU? XD! Well guess what, People...

I'M BACK! Thanks to the summer having come up, I'll have plenty more time to COMPLETE the FanFiction I've posted! I haven't written in _so long_ to the point that I've been **DYING** to write something! Thanks to rereading Chapter 04 of this particular story, I unconsciously got myself back into .hack/G.U. and got myself in gear to **_finish writing this story_**.

Who cares if it's not Halloween anymore? I honestly think that this story is worth continuing, no matter what the time of year.

Enjoy, Darlings!

* * *

: 05 :

_Petrified_

"SILABUS!!" Haseo shouted as loud and filled with worry as possible.

He stared up at his best friend who hung in the air high above him. The Blade Brandier had instantly brought up his black-gloved hands to try and get the bandages tied around his neck to loosen. He kicked his boots out several times, attempting to get the hopefully weak bandages to tear... To no avail as of yet.

"H-Haseo, I... I can't... breathe..." Silabus choked, pulling at the rope-like thing holding him up by the neck.

It got tighter and tighter every five seconds, and every five seconds he let out a silent and breathy whimper or yelp. Not long after, he began to glow dark blue as the Underwrapped sucked the HP out of him.

"A-aaah!!" he cried out in pain; they were trapped in the Area... Not just their characters, but their consciousnesses. They were truly there in the game, so what would happen if his HP hit 0?

Haseo, who knew that being KOed wouldn't be a good thing in this Area, felt his heart beat increase the more he heard his best friend's groans and shouts of agony. Turning his crimson hues on the awaiting monster, he growled dangerously at it before he darted toward it and Weapon Changed to his broadsword.

"_ARMOR BREAK!!_" he brought the huge sword down on the monster several times before a huge bolt of what could pass for lightning struck down with his final blow.

The Underwrapped's Shell bar was completely down as it collapsed onto the floor to its right side. Haseo looked to its arm; it hadn't moved. He switched out his Silad broadsword back to his Shadowy Death scythe and jumped up into the air. He swiped the blade across the straight line of bandages and cut it clear in half.

Looking over to Silabus, he got rid of his weapon quickly before jumping up again to catch his friend bridal-style. Landing on one knee, he looked down to the form in his arms and noticed that he was still suffering. The bandages were still around his neck...

Taking his free hand, he remembered how sharp his golden claws were and gently scratched at the tight collar around his best friend's neck. It came off easily enough, but there was a long red mark going all around the Blade Brandier's neck from how tight it'd been on him.

"H-Haseo..." he stuttered, looking up at him with a weak smile of relief.

The Adept Rogue looked to his poor friend's HP, seeing that he'd saved him about a little under a fourth of his HP. Cursing under his breath, he wished Atoli were here to use _Pha Repth_ to completely heal the boy. Instead, he pulled out another of his Healing Tonics, activating it and managing to give Silabus back all of the HP he'd lost.

"You okay, Silabus?"

The brunette nodded, looking past his leader and pointing quickly, "It's going to try again!!"

Haseo abruptly turned his head, only to see that the Underwrapped had gotten itself into a sitting position and was now holding out its arm in an attempt to throw its line out at him again. He growled, watching as it shot out at him.

"NOT THIS TIME!!" he shouted, immediately switching to his dual blades and turning his entire body so that he slashed at the bandages as they grew closer to him and his partner, "I won't let you touch him again!"

Moving his arms and hands with a speed unmatchable, he sliced the bandages to pieces so that they littered the ground like confetti. Silabus just sat on his knees behind him, watching with eyes that began to tear up.

"Ha... Haseo..." he couldn't help feeling touched at the sheer fact that the Adept Rogue he cared for was fighting off this strong monster to protect him.

"If you're doing fine, Silabus, I suggest you use this opportunity to take it out while I keep it busy like this!" Haseo said matter-of-factly.

The Blade Brandier got to his feet and whipped his sword blade to his right side before making a run for the Underwrapped. As Haseo kept on cutting away at its advancing bandages, the black-clad Silabus was going to attack it up close.

He jumped up into the air and spun in a full circle, ripping through the monster's arm and getting it to stop its attack on his leader. He forced his sword back to his left side in a horizontal cut before turning around and bringing the blade down in a vertical slice on it. With a slight hop backward, he called out to trigger his skill.

"_Razor's Edge!!_" Silabus swung his blade from his left to his right side, back from his right to his left, and then repeated that first one before going back in to normally attack.

The Underwrapped let out a loud and muffled groan before it literally fell backward like a rock and faded away into the air. Silabus panted as he stood up straight, holding his new Wrath Tsuki sword blade at his side and staring at the spot the monster had disappeared.

Haseo came up beside him and put his hand on the other's shoulder, grinning at him, "You did great, Silabus..."

The brunette took a deep and shaky breath, looking to his friend with shy honey brown eyes, "Haseo..."

"Hm?"

He looked away, a timid blush painting his cheeks as he cleared his throat, "Uhm... nevermind. Let's keep going?"

Turning around, he'd just about taken a step toward the walkway they'd been aiming for, when Haseo took him by the elbow and stopped him. Honey brown hues met with crimson red ones when the leader made a worried look at him.

"You sure you don't want to take a break? I know I fully Healed you, but what that monster did to you didn't look like something you could bounce back from so fast."

Silabus sighed, nodding and facing the Adept Rogue again. He now looked downward at the floor with a thoughtful look in his eye. Now that he'd completely stopped, he just noticed that his heart hadn't stopped racing, he was still panting, and his throat was aching a bit from how tightly those rope-like bandages had tied themselves around his neck.

"Y-y'know... maybe I _could_ use a little breather." He admitted, gasping silently in an attempt to regain his lost breath.

"Yeah..." Haseo agreed, grinning sympathetically, "No need to worry about it, alright? I don't really mind stopping... especially since this is your first time actually being attacked in the game."

"First time...?"

"All those other battles you've been in up until now... There was never any real danger. But thanks to this Area, the real you... your actual life is at risk." He informed.

Silabus shivered at that cold, hard truth, "That kinda freaks me out a little..."

Haseo couldn't help chuckling, "Heh, not surprising. I thought the exact same thing the first time it happened to me, too."

"And that was after Tri-Edge used that weird attack to land you back at level 1, right?"

"Sure was. Everything was suddenly real to me, and even though things got harder from then on, I still couldn't bring myself to stop playing the game." He replied, his grin turning into a smile, "I got used to it, and one of the reasons why I've become so strong and skilled is be_cause_ I can actually feel everything. You have to learn to survive in this world."

Silabus smiled weakly after finally getting his breathing under control, "Hearing that from you... I guess I can try to get used to this, just like you have."

The Adept Rogue just winked at him, "Don't sweat it, Silabus. This is just an effect of this one Area. Once we get out of here, it should be back to normal for you."

The Blade Brandier blushed lightly again, looking up at the cobwebbed ceiling before speaking, "Yeah... Well, I'm feeling much better now. Shall we keep going?"

Haseo nodded, pulling his hand back from his companion to motion in the direction of which they'd be going ahead in, "If you're ready to."

The two boys went on through the darkened doorway, both being especially careful, just in case there was a trap or a monster waiting to spring itself onto them. Upon reaching the next room, they realized how similar it was to the last... It was quite empty, although, it was a tad bit dimmer than before. Haseo glared around the area.

"I don't like it..."

"Hold on!" Silabus called, pulling out a Scroll and tossing it up into the air, "_Lei Zas!_"

It was then that three bright lights shot out from the boy's hand and lit the room up. Nothing popped out and nothing was out of the ordinary. He shrugged to his leader.

"I guess it's safe."

"I guess so..."

They went on, running throwing another corridor, only to find that it was _especially_ long. And was it them, or was it getting darker and darker the farther they went?

"Haseo, is it...?" Silabus began.

"Yeah, it is. You think the NPC Boss is coming up?" the leader asked, crimson eyes narrowing.

"Yup. Better be prepared, then."

As they continued, the two checked in their inventories. Not much difference in how much they'd come into the Area with... and they hadn't even stocked up on stuff. With next to no Healing supplies left and an ample amount of Magic Scrolls with them, they'd have to make due.

Things were becoming too dark to even see the outline of each other. The Blade Brandier, who'd been getting quite anxious, wound up tripping over something. Falling forward a bit, he ran into the other and the two fell onto the ground.

"Damn it, Silabus!" Haseo growled, "Watch where you're—"

"May I remind you that we're completely _blind_?" the brown-eyed friend rumbled back.

"... Shut up."

_**MUAHAAHAAHAAHAAA!!**_ A maniacal laughter rang out, causing the two to look up immediately and search for its source. The darkness lightened slightly, _just_ enough to see the outline of some sort of life-form standing off to the corner.

"_Welcome back, Terror of Death... It's been quite a while, has it not?_"

Haseo took a stumbled back as he got to his feet, cursing silently before speaking aloud, "Damn it... I thought we'd gotten rid of you last year!"

"_Quite the contrary... I've come back for my revenge._"

"Haseo, who's that?" Silabus asked, making a serious look. Not that anyone could see facial expressions, though.

"That's no NPC... That's the Dark Song Angel." The Adept Rogue informed, looking to his friend's direction for a moment before looking back to the being in the dark, "Before all of this AIDA and Cubia business, I was still a part of the Twilight Brigade. _This_ monster tricked me into thinking that she knew where the Key was, so I followed her. She'd been about to PK me for good, when Shino came in and saved me."

A low growl was heard from the life-form as he went on.

"The power of Shino's Magic was able to distract her until I could take her out myself... Never thought she'd be able to come back after that, because we reported her and her character got banned."

"_And it is just for that reason of which I've come back to settle the score. My character was indeed banned, but my consciousness became trapped in the game._" The feminine voice suddenly turned raspy as it echoed inhumanly, "_Once I get rid of you and Shino, I'll finally be set free again! Now that Shino's out of the way, you're the only one keeping me from reawakening in reality!!_"

"Wait—_Shino_!?" Haseo stared in disbelief, "How'd you get a hold of her? She didn't come to this Area, did she?"

"_Oh, please... You've got to be joking. That Harvest Cleric you came in with was obviously Shino! She tried to convince me otherwise, but there's no way I'd mistake that character design for anyone else._"

"You mean _you're_ the one who kidnapped Atoli??"

Glowing red eyes narrowed in amusement, "_Atoli? Is that a new nickname? She called herself that, as well. It is no matter, though... Without a Cleric, you're quite vulnerable, as you were before._"

Silabus growled, taking a step forward and pulling out his sword blade, "That's not true!! I'm here with him, too!"

"_Hah! All that makes is for a cute little rhyme! No one can defeat me… You will not escape me, as Haseo did before. It's really a pity that you didn't stay behind when that Underwrapped held you, Boy…Dying by those means would not have been so painful!_"

With that said, the eyes seemed to close, meaning that this one known as the Dark Song Angel was no longer in there field of view. The two adventurers looked off in every direction, noticing how the darkness began to thicken to the point that vision became useless. The last thing they saw was the worried look on the each other's face.

* * *

"SILABUS!!" Haseo called out into the darkness, his hands cupped around his mouth in hopes of his voice reaching his lost companion, "Silabus, where are you!?"

He didn't receive any answer; in fact, no sounds greeted him in this void besides the echo of his own voice and a strange, eerie singing off in the distance. He suppressed a growl, running off in the last direction he'd seen his best friend, hoping to at least run into him. Coincidentally, as he ran, the song began to rise in volume gradually.

Ahead of him, he could see some sort of spotlight… but nothing was there. Running up to it, he stepped into it, only to shade his eyes from the brilliant light's abrupt modification from dimly lit to as bright as the sun. Once the light had become tolerable again, he reopened his blood red eyes to examine his surroundings.

Those very eyes widened in an instant; he was inside of the Hulle Granz Cathedral. The soft and gentle music that he'd heard time-and-again in the background was no longer playing… but rather, that eerie song from before rang through the empty place of holiness. This random awareness was tossed to the side when he realized what the scene before him depicted.

… Shino's death.

His heart stopped; this horrible memory had come back to haunt him… even though the girl was fine and very much alive now. He wanted so badly to just look away as the Harvest Cleric slowly fell to the floor, but then the scene changed once again… to when Atoli had been attacked by AIDA.

His eyes were glued to the sight, terror and shock rendering him motionless. All he could do was watch as the poor girl bounced lightly off the floor for a second before lying there, immovable.

He wanted to scream… He wanted to scream and shout and _cry_ when the memory switched to when Alkaid had been PKed to the point of disappearing. Haseo absolutely _hated_ these memories… They reminded him of how many times… how many _people_ he'd put into harms way as their battle against AIDA went on. A few of those people… had been his friends.

He fell to his knees, at least regaining the ability to move. Crouching over, he placed his hands onto the ground beneath him, staring straight down at it as he silently began to cry.

"_So easily broken… You've not changed in the least, Haseo._"

Haseo slowly looked up, not bothering to wipe at his tears. A seemingly distorted PC stood a few yards in front of him with an arrogant smirk on her torn, black lips.

Her skin was pale… pale as if it'd never seen the light of the sun. Long, ragged black hair lay in tatters over her shoulders and arms, managing to conceal most of her being in the darkness. Broken black-and-red armor adorned her ashen body… but the most unordinary things about her character design were the two appendages that protruded from her back. Wings of black feathers were folded inward; however the bones were clearly visible in certain areas where patches of feathers had been yanked out. Glowing eyes of blood glared triumphantly at him as she pulled her right arm out from the darkness behind her.

If Haseo could get anymore shocked or scared, it surely happened the moment he saw a familiar ponytail in the ghostly hand of his enemy. The pupils of his eyes were almost non-existent at the sight of a bloody, unconscious, green-clad Blade Brandier being dragged into the light by his long hair.

"S-Silabus!!"

* * *

Emerald's Nonsense:

... did I leave another cliffy? I can't tell... Oh well! It's 12:19 AM, and I've got school...

Not to worry, though! This is my last week of school. Although, Finals are this week, I'll make time to write. I want to keep writing... it's been too long.

Excuse me if the story gets a little repetitive... The game does that, too, y'know? And unfortunate to say, the damn format doesn't want to be cooperative with me, so ignore the Centered First Part. But just keep sticking with me & it'll get better... It's called _Dance to the Death_ for a reason. ;P


End file.
